1878.] the Poisonous Principle of Urechites Suberecta. 313 



move, and when it did so was in danger of falling over on its side. It 

 walked as if drunk. 



1.0 p.m. Passed urine and faeces. Vomited. It was now very rest- 

 less, screamed continually, and had general convulsive tremors. 

 Wagging its tail. Soon it became quiet, and appeared very sleepy, 

 but in a minute or two convulsions of a violent character came on, the 

 pupils dilating in the fit, but contracting as it passed off. 



1.15 p.m. A second attack of convulsions came on in which the 

 animal died. The pupil of each eye was so enlarged that no iris could 

 be seen, nor was any visible thirty minutes after death. 



Rigor mortis not perceptible till an hour after death ; in two hours 

 it was marked. The body was opened in the afternoon on which the 

 animal died ; the only special appearances noted were the very dis- 

 tended state of the stomach, and the tenseness of its walls, the tense 

 wiry condition of the intestines, which were so contracted that a trans- 

 verse section appeared solid, and the gorged state of the auricles and 

 right ventricle, the left ventricle^being nearly empty. 



Effect of Urechitoxin. 



This substance is very bitter and acrid, and produces a singular 

 sensation on the tongue and lips, as if they were swollen and blis- 

 tered ; no visible change is really produced, but so vivid is the sensa- 

 tion that it is almost impossible to persuade oneself that the tongue is 

 of its usual size, and the lips unblistered. The tingling lasts for many 

 hours. Urechitoxin is powerfully sternutatory, the least particle 

 introduced into the nostrils causing violent fits of sneezing, accom- 

 panied with a choky sensation at the back of the throat. Experi- 

 ments have been made on mice, cats, and one dog, with this poison, 

 and as I believe it to be the typical active principle of the plant — if, 

 indeed, not the active principle, urechitin being in all probability a 

 compound containing it — more experiments have been made with it 

 than with the other forms of the poison. 



Effect on Mice, given by Mouth. 

 Experiment VII. 



Administered 2*5 mgms., i.e., nearly gr. of pure hydrated 

 urechitoxin, dissolved in cub. centim. of spirit (50 per cent.), to a 

 mouse, passing the solution well down its throat. It was dead before 

 I could put it out of my hand. 



Administered 1 mgm., i.e., less than gr. of the same urechitoxin in 

 ■^q cub. centim. of spirit (30 per cent.), to a mouse in a similar manner, 

 it gave but one or two twitches after being put out of the hand and 

 was dead. These mice were opened, their stomachs found empty, 

 about a quarter drop of liquid squeezed from each and separately tested 

 gave the urechitoxin colour reaction distinctly. 



